Who Will Be Selling the Cheapest iPad in the UK This Christmas?

The Apple iPad has been one of the consumer electronic hits of the year.

Since its launch in April 2010, Apple have been selling over 1 million Apple= iPad units a month and in the words of their chief operating office, "We're selling everything we can make".

The iPad first went on sale in the UK in April and was sold though Apple stores, Apple independent retailers, PC World and Currys.

Through all these channels the iPads were sold at the same price points i.e.

iPad 16GB Wi-Fi - £429
iPad 32GB Wi-Fi - £499
iPad 64GB Wi-Fi - £599
iPad 16GB 3G - £525
iPad 16GB 3G - £599
iPad 16GB 3G - £699

From July more retailers started selling the iPad and many people thought that this would be the point at which we would start seeing cheaper iPad deals. It was thought that more retailers offering the device meant more competition and usually with competition comes better prices for consumers, but it was not to be.

Even when these new stores came on board, the prices stayed the same. Clearly every retailers wants to sell Apple products because they sell so well. A consequence of this is that the retailers have to keep Apple on side and it seems that means sticking to Apple's recommended retail price.

It won't always be the case though that iPad is prices the same whoever you buy from. We just have to look at other Apple products like the iPod range to see that. It seems that at a certain point after launch, Apple relax their rules for retailers on pricing and the Price Wars begin.

The question is when will Apple relax the pricing rules on the iPad and will consumers be able to get some cheap iPad deals in time for Christmas?

There is a possibility of this. There are 2 UK retailers that are reported to have signed distributor agreements for the Apple iPad but haven't yet started selling; these are Tesco and Argos.

Argos tend to be fairly middle of the road with their pricing, but Tesco like push the boundaries a bit. Just look at when the iPhone 4 came out; Tesco were the only company to offer a tariff for £20 a month.

So if there is going to be any pricing discounts this Christmas it is likely that Tesco will be offering the cheapest Apple iPad if they come in to the market in time.  

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